Read part 1 of 2: ‘The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 1′

I now Officially have a 1-Pack for a Stomach

After a self-indulgent Christmas of putting on weight and growing another belly, I decided that I needed to motivate my rotund body into doing a few exercises so to improve my overall fitness, mood and general well-being.

I am now 4 weeks into my exercise regime, and have to say that I’m already seeing and feeling the results of my labours.

As for you guys out there, you can use the following exercises as an example, or inspiration, for you to create your own personal regime to adapt to your daily life.

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

~ Bruce Lee

Create an Exercise Regime and Inspire yourself to Keep Motivated…and maybe you’ll be rewarded with a body like Mr. Lee

Three things we use as an excuse to stop us from doing exercises:

1. motivation
2. time
3. money

Five wise things that can help you to start exercising and keep motivated:

1. do the exercises and sports you love doing, which will certainly help to keep you motivated.
2. change the routine and exercises to suit your needs. It is important not to get into a rigid routine which can make you become bored.  Mix-it-up and be flexible with your routine in terms of type of exercises performed and length of time doing it
3. you don’t need to spend hours exercising to get fit. I recommend up to 30 minutes daily for the body to benefit immensely, or just do what you can to fit into your schedule.  Even a quick 5 to 10 minutes here and there is better than nothing.
4. save money by not joining a  gym or hiring a personal trainer.  You can achieve the same results exercising in the comfort of your own home.
5. the money saved can be spent on exercise equipment such as weights,  rowing machine and stationary cycle.  These can be used anytime at your choosing.

Example Exercises Routine:  “What Does Not Kill You, Makes You Stronger”

“Above all, never cheat on any exercise; use the amount of weight that you can handle without undue strain.”

~ Bruce Lee

Walking

Something as simple and obvious as walking can be the best form of exercise if we choose to take advantage of carrying our own torso, head and limbs everywhere we go.  To put it simply, if we used our legs more in this day of modern transportation we would all be generally fitter than we currently are.

Tip: Why don’t you leave the car at home?  Why wait for the bus or a lift to arrive?  Why stand there waiting for an escalator to take you up or down?  Why not take the opportunity to exercise by walking instead of using every mode of transport you come across in everyday life – every little helps.

Stair Climbing

If you have stairs in your home then you have the opportunity use them to build strength and endurance.  Running up and down a flight of stairs is an excellent cardiovascular exercise and is better than many horizontal exercises – just be careful with your knee joints.

Tip: Hold a light dumbbell in each hand whilst stair climbing which will burn more calories and give your arms a simultaneous workout as well.

How-To: Run Stairs to Build Strength and Endurance

Shadow Boxing

These can be done easily anywhere in the house as you do not need much room to perform combination punching.  Great as an aerobic exercise and can improve punching technique and footwork if you ever wanted to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.

Tip: use light dumbbells to punch with to get a more strenuous workout- will improve arm strength and power.

How-To: How to Shadow Box in a Small Apartment

Push-ups

Effective and simple exercise for strengthening the upper body including arms, chest and back.

Tip: use a pair of elevated push-ups stands which provide more flexibility in  performing different types of push-ups as well as more intensity for arms and chest.

How-To: How To Do a Perfect Push Up

Sit-ups

Great exercise to strengthen and reducing the stomach area, and who knows, you may even achieve the legendary 6-pack, unlike me.

How-To: Bruce Lee’s Ab Workout Routine

Exercise Equipment

To make your exercises more varied you can incorporate equipment in your routine such as weights, stationary cycle and rowing machine.  These can be excellent for exercising every muscle group in the body and for non-impact cardiovascular workouts.

How-To: Before You Buy Home Fitness Equipment

Bruce Lee Strength Exercises

Please read the following excellent article, ‘How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym’ for more great ideas on exercises you can do to become the next Bruce Lee…good luck!

Before you start any exercise routine you must have the following in mind:

• if you have any heart or physical conditions always consult with your doctor and exercise physiologist before entering any exercise program
• always warm up and stretch before doing any form of exercise.  This will help reduce the risk of picking up any strains or injuries.
• do not listen to that unwise saying “no pain, no gain” and overdo any exercise unless you are looking to get a severe strain or worse.  Perform exercises up to a level that you’re comfortable with and without pain.
• start your exercise regime at a moderate pace until you are strong and fit enough to perform at a more advanced level.

How-To: Warm-up Stretches Routine

Related posts:

1. The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 1
2. Apply the Bruce Lee Philosophy of 7 Steps Towards Self-Improvement
3. Code of Conduct to Living: 4 Rules You Must Follow To Achieve Personal Growth

Exercise both Mind and Body to Achieve Total Self-Improvement

There are two levels of self-improvement one can pursue in life, these are:

• improvement of mind
• improvement of body

Some would say that the improvement of mind is the more important area to concentrate on, but I feel the body is also an important vehicle to keep as healthy as possible so that one can instigate, with ease, the promptings of the mind toward physical activity.

So there is no reason not to exercise both parts to achieve a more total improvement in your life, hence the following eloquent quote,

“The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.”

~ George Santayana

The Body Requires a Good and Moderate Amount of Fuel to Work Supremely

Despite exercise, one must also use common sense to either moderate, or better still, avoid the things that can do serious damage to the organism, such as:

• high-fat diet
• smoking
• alcohol
• drugs

To limit such things from entering your life and body, you must learn to raise your awareness so to avoid both developing these destructive habits and then becoming dependent on them.

If not, both mind and body cannot flourish to the best of their abilities, and instead, can ultimately end up damaging your quality of life in general.

Obvious things that the body requires to be in a healthy state are:

• fruit
• vegetables
• wheats and grains
• if not a vegetarian, a moderate amount of fish and lean meat (especially poultry such as chicken and turkey have less fat than other meats)
• water
• fruit juice
• low-fat milk

“A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world.”

~ John Locke

Get a body like Bruce Lee in Less the Time and Less the Cost…

…Well, maybe not exactly like Bruce, but as near as.  So now is not the time to neglect your body for only cerebral pursuits.

Although one must not get too attached to a body that must grow old, is susceptible to disease and will become nothing but dust one day, there is no reason not to look after it while we are still able so that we can enjoy life in relatively good health and vigour.

So I encourage you to improve your body through exercises of your own creation which can be done in the comfort of your own home.  No need  to go to a gym and spend hours and money killing yourselves.

Part two of this post will feature my own exercise plan that you can use to create your own daily regime that you can adapt to your life.

Update: Read part 2 of 2: ‘The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 2′

Related posts:

1. The Wisdom of Creating an Exercise Regime – Part 2
2. Apply the Bruce Lee Philosophy of 7 Steps Towards Self-Improvement
3. Code of Conduct to Living: 4 Rules You Must Follow To Achieve Personal Growth